New member: My introduction

Costs are rising and times are tough.
Please consider a donation to keep this
place going.

Welcome to one of the most active flamenco sites on the Internet. Guests can read most posts but if you want to participate click here to register.

This site is dedicated to the memory of Paco de Lucía, Ron Mitchell, Guy Williams, Linda Elvira, Philip John Lee, Craig Eros, Ben Woods, David Serva and Tom Blackshear who went ahead of us.

We receive 12,200 visitors a month from 200 countries and 1.7 million page impressions a year. To advertise on this site please contact us.

You are logged in as Guest

Users viewing this topic: none

Printable Version

All Forums >>Discussions >>Off Topic >>

Page: [1]

Message

<< Newer Topic Older Topic >>

newstringjunkie

Posts: 21
Joined: Mar. 29 2009

New member: My introduction

Hi all,

After a few weeks of lurking I've signed up and this is My First Post here.

I'm from The Netherlands, just moved from a city to a village and am enjoying practicing without disturbing the neighbours.

Not that I've had complaints, my downstairs neighbour told me he could hear me getting better, that was good to hear because from my viewpoint I'm hardly getting forward because I keep bumping into my own limitations which is frustrating and blurs the more objective noticing of my progression at playing.

I've only played guitar for a few years, had 1,5 years of classical guitar lessons and almost one year of flamenco guitar. and still going.

I read somewhere that there are 10000 practice hours before you can consider yourself a real good guitarplayer so I'll be on stage by the time I have one foot in the grave LOL

After trying out some soleares and a bit of rumba I'm into tangos now, I really like the alzapua parts and I'm trying to wiggle in a little embellishment which sounds so cool when my teacher plays it so I want to learn how to do that too. However I'm having major trouble with barré chords, my thumb starts getting shooting pains and my indexfinger just refuses to to what its told.

So there, this should do it for now, what else can I say? I'm a new string junkie hence the name, not that I give in to my addiction all the time, but when I have new strings, I LOVE 'em.

I buy the D'Addario Pro Arte hard tension, I find the lesser tension annoying to play, I might try the extra hard tension ones at one point but not in the near future.

My guitar is a cheapass Juan Salvador 2C classical guitar but every guitarlesson my teacher laughs and says "it remains amazing what a big sound this little guitar has!"

Greets,

newstringjunkie

_____________________________

"Excuse me madam, do you know how to get to Carnegie Hall?"

"Practice, baby, practice!"

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Mar. 29 2009 5:07:27

Florian

Posts: 9282
Joined: Jul. 14 2003
From: Adelaide/Australia

RE: New member: My introduction (in reply to newstringjunkie)

Hi :-) nice to meet you and welcome

_____________________________

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Mar. 29 2009 6:57:24

Arash

Posts: 4495
Joined: Aug. 9 2006
From: Iran (living in Germany)

RE: New member: My introduction (in reply to newstringjunkie)

Hi and welcome,

yeah, new strings sound fantastic and after 10 days your guitar sounds like a
Cello with them.

I mentioned in one of my elder posts that this might be a plot of string producers
against flamenco guitarists (they know that we love that fresh sound!), so that we have
to buy new strings every week. But folk here didnt take me seriously and i have been laughed at
(i didnt take myself too seriously too though LoL)

Anyways, dont forget to put on a Goldpeador on your classical Guitar (if not already)
otherwise after some serious practicing with Golpes, you will have more than one soundhole
in your Guitar!

Soleares and Tangos are good Palos to beginn with.

BTW....its not so much important how many hours you practice, but more the way you
practice. So dont be discouraged.

_____________________________

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Mar. 29 2009 7:04:34

at_leo_87

Posts: 3055
Joined: Aug. 30 2008
From: Boston, MA, U.S.A

RE: New member: My introduction (in reply to newstringjunkie)

welcome!

quote:

So there, this should do it for now, what else can I say? I'm a new string junkie hence the name, not that I give in to my addiction all the time, but when I have new strings, I LOVE 'em.

im, too, am addicted to new strings. i'm also addicted to the actual act of putting on new strings.

quote:

I buy the D'Addario Pro Arte hard tension, I find the lesser tension annoying to play, I might try the extra hard tension ones at one point but not in the near future.

i use extra hard tension. it helps you become a macho man and increases testosterone 500%.

quote:

However I'm having major trouble with barré chords, my thumb starts getting shooting pains and my indexfinger just refuses to to what its told.

i used to have this exact problem. use an ice cube to massage the thumb after practice. dont put in a towel or anything. just use it bare. it'll be cold but be brave. use it til it disappears. simple but highly EFFECTIVE.

also, dont use your thumb to barre. your arm is much stronger. learn to use the weight of your and let it drop down, pulling your fingers into the fretboard.

no more thumb pain, guaranteed!

_____________________________

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Mar. 30 2009 4:51:21

Ron.M

Posts: 7051
Joined: Jul. 7 2003
From: Scotland

RE: New member: My introduction (in reply to at_leo_87)

quote:

i'm also addicted to the actual act of putting on new strings.

Hi Leo,

Wouldn't that be classified as string "fetishism"?

j/k

Yeah good advice about the barre chords.

Eva...You are probably still using your thumb to "clamp" your barre finger to the fretboard, but if you do as Leo says and let your elbow and wrist drop right down, you'll find that you don't need any pressure from your thumb at all, but just have it there for stability.

Best getting into the habit ASAP, as sooner or later you will have to in order to play certain chords and stuff.

Doesn't take very long to get used to really.

cheers,

Ron

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Mar. 30 2009 5:03:38

at_leo_87

Posts: 3055
Joined: Aug. 30 2008
From: Boston, MA, U.S.A

RE: New member: My introduction (in reply to Ron.M)

quote:

Wouldn't that be classified as string "fetishism"? j/k

Well, you gotta love that G string!

_____________________________

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Mar. 30 2009 6:09:43

newstringjunkie

Posts: 21
Joined: Mar. 29 2009

RE: New member: My introduction (in reply to newstringjunkie)

Three years later I find myself on this forum again.
I've picked up my guitar maybe 50 times in the past few years, half of which in the past few weeks so that's a start right? ;)

_____________________________

"Excuse me madam, do you know how to get to Carnegie Hall?"

"Practice, baby, practice!"

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jun. 13 2012 22:53:57

estebanana

Posts: 9353
Joined: Oct. 16 2009

RE: New member: My introduction (in reply to newstringjunkie)

quote:

I read somewhere that there are 10000 practice hours before you can consider yourself a real good guitarplayer so I'll be on stage by the time I have one foot in the grave LOL

That is that garbage that Malcolm Gladwell wrote in those dumb unreadable books about tipping points and mastery. Total garbage.

You don't need 10,000 hours to master anything, especially the guitar. It takes a few years to get your hands moving around fluently on the instrument, but most of the work of understanding how to interpret music, in flamenco to play with aire, is done in your head. The best practice is moderate and steady while feeding yourself a lot of good flamenco to listen to everyday.

Practice is about focused intent, not just packing hours and hours of time into a practice. Practice should be supported by good listening time. In five years you'll accomplish much more by careful listening than simply putting in hours with the guitar. Listening to good flamenco and focusing deeply on what you are listening to will change your playing faster than anything.

Over the years the way you master things is to keep accumulating information on your subject, while using your experience to edit out the things you don't need. Mastery should really be called maturation of editing powers. It's mainly mental.

_____________________________

https://www.stephenfaulkguitars.com

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jun. 14 2012 19:40:29

Florian

Posts: 9282
Joined: Jul. 14 2003
From: Adelaide/Australia

RE: New member: My introduction (in reply to estebanana)

quote:

quote:

I read somewhere that there are 10000 practice hours before you can consider yourself a real good guitarplayer so I'll be on stage by the time I have one foot in the grave LOL

That is that garbage that Malcolm Gladwell wrote in those dumb unreadable books about tipping points and mastery. Total garbage.

the post is from 2009...the guy has probably been and quit flamenco already

_____________________________

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jun. 14 2012 21:35:11